The entire army is gathered in front of Lexa's tent, where a small dais has been erected for the Commander to give her pre battle speech. Clarke is standing in the crowd next to her people as they all patiently wait for the grounders' leader to make her entrance. Like the powerful Commander of Death she is considered to be, the girl is wearing an armor that resembles Lexa's and she has two stripes of war paint that go from her nose to her hairline on each side of her face. She's also armed like a true grounder, with a sword and her knife tucked respectively on her back and on her left thigh, and the only Skaikru weapon she carries is a small gun slipped into her belt on her right side. She hasn't had the chance to see Lexa ever since their war council the night before and she really wishes they can have a moment before moving to battle, since it has been decided that it would be best for the two Commanders to fight on different parts of the battlefield as they were the two sensible targets of the army. That way Azgeda won't be able to take down both of them at once, or so they hope.
When the Commander finally exits her tent and makes her way on the dais, the crowd bursts out into loud cheers that soon die as Lexa raises her hand asking for attention.
"Gona kom Kongeda, oso laik hir deyon shil Skaikru op, oso brana lukot, kom Azgeda. Geda chon jomp moun op, jomp oso op. Oso throu daun ogeda en oso kik thru ogeda." She pauses for a moment as her warriors start cheering again and, in the meantime, Clarke uses the break to translate the Commander's words for her people. "Warriors of the Coalition, we are here today to protect the Sky People, our new friends, from the Ice Nation. A clan who attacks another, attacks us all. We fight together and we survive together."
When the crowd grows quite, Lexa moves her gaze over her people before stopping to briefly lock her eyes with Clarke. The two girls exchange a quick nod before the Commander turns her head away to address the whole army one more time.
"Jus drein jus daun!" She shouts followed in chorus by all the warriors. Blood must have blood! Clarke doesn't need to translate this, her people know all too well what those words mean. It's time, there's no going back now, either you fight or you die.
As soon as she sees Lexa walking towards her Clarke rushes to her girlfriend. They stand still for a moment, both considering whether or not they should show any kind of affection in front of their people. After a while they just decide to not give a damn about who's watching, because, hell, they're about to go to war and this might be the last time they see each other, even though neither of them wants to think this is goodbye.
They exchange a small smile before leaning in to press their lips together. Gathering all the self control they have, they somehow manage to not fall into a full make out session in front of everyone, keeping the kiss as sober and short as possible. When they part, they stay close so that her foreheads are still pressed together as they speak to one another. Clarke brings her hand up to caress softly Lexa's cheek as she starts: "Hey, Heda, don't you dare die on me. Do you hear me? You need to promise me you're not gonna die out there. I can't live without you." As she looks straight into Lexa's eyes she sees a flash of sadness appear in those beautiful green orbs.
"You know I can't promise that." She says as she runs her thumb on the other girl's face, mirroring Clarke's action. "Neither of us can. But what I can promise is that I'm going to do anything in my power to come back to you, ai hodness."
"Ai swega em klin sentaim, my love." I promise you too.
"Heda, taim don kom op." It's time, Commander. One of Lexa's generals says from behind them. If the man is upset by his Heda and Wanheda holding each other like that, he doesn't let it show.
"Alright. Let's get this over with." She nods before moving to follow the man.
"Wait!" Clarke quickly stops her in her tracks by grabbing her arm and turning her around so that they're facing each other again. She doesn't exactly know what to say, because she refuses to believe this is goodbye and, at same time, she doesn't want to part from Lexa just yet. She looks down at their hands as she intertwines her fingers with her girlfriend's, because she can't afford to look weak in front of their people, not today, but she knows, the moment she looks in those big green pools she loves so much, she won't be able to hold back her tears. When she feels Lexa giving her hand a small squeeze, she attempts to raise her head again and what she sees there shocks her. Apparently, she isn't the only one trying not to cry, the girl's eyes are just as watery as she imagines hers must be and Clarke thinks this is the first time she's ever seen Lexa shed tears in public. They're surrounded by warriors, yet here is the Commander letting all her walls down and being vulnerable for the girl she loves. Clarke knows how hard it is for Lexa to show weakness and her heart melts at the thought of this girl loving her so much to allow herself to appear weak for her. Without other hesitation she throws herself at her girlfriend and she holds her in a tight embrace, feeling Lexa return the hug just as fiercely.
"I love you." Clarke whispers brokenly in the girl's neck.
"I love you too." The brunette reciprocates before leaning back to place a soft kiss to her forehead. "I'll see you when this is all over. Be safe." And with that she turns to catch up with her group of warriors.
"You too." The blonde murmurs to Lexa's back before turning and joining her people to fight alongside them.
The fight has been going on for hours now, the Ice Nation army revealing itself to be a much harder enemy to take down than they'd originally expected. The amount of corpses Clarke has to avoid as she moves around the battlefield and the strong smell of blood make her feel sick to the stomach, but she keeps striking her sword back and forth because she can't afford getting distracted and risking to be killed for it. She's just run her blade through another Azgeda warrior when she hears a cold voice coming from behind her.
"Well, well, if it isn't the mighty Wanheda."
"Nia." She recognizes immediately the woman standing in front of her, even if she's never met the Ice Queen before.
"Looks like Lexa went to all the trouble to save you for nothing. She can't protect you this time, Sky girl. Your power will be mine and finally I'll become the only leader worth of the Commander's throne!" With that she throws herself at Clarke, drawing her sword at the girl, but, to her surprise, the blonde is quick enough to stop her blow with ease.
The sound of their blades colliding is all Clarke can hear for a long time until a loud pained scream sounds from her side and she turns her head to see if it was one of her people to get wounded. Nia uses the girl's inattention to kick her sword out of her hand and send the blonde back first on the ground. The sudden movement catches Clarke off guard and she doesn't have time to slow her fall to avoid hitting her head. She's lies there dazed for a moment till she sees the Ice Queen raising her sword in the air right above her chest before lowering it fiercely to run it through her heart. She thinks it's over for a second, but then she remembers something she'd seen Lexa do in one of her sparring sessions with the Nightbloods. She raises slightly her left leg so she can reach the knife tucked on her thigh and, right before the blade can run through her chest, she rolls on her side. Surprised by her quick move, Nia stares at her sword stuck on the forest floor giving Clarke just enough time to roll back with her legs raised to kick the woman straight in the ribs, sending her to the ground. They both get back on their feet quickly and Nia immediately raises her hand to lay a punch on Clarke's face, expecting the Sky girl to be unarmed as she is, but, to her surprise, as she's about to hit her she feels something sharp penetrating her flesh. Soon her mouth is filled by the typical taste of metal that is proper of blood and she moves her eyes down to see the blonde pushing a knife into her chest. She brings her gaze back on Clarke's face, her eyes wide open and her mouth gaping and, when their eyes lock, the girl turns the knife slightly in her chest sending another shot of pain through her body that is almost enough to take her breath away.
The blonde stares at her for another moment before letting out this next words in her lowest and most menacing voice: "I am Wanheda, Commander of Death, I don't need Lexa to fight for me. Non na throu daun gon ai." No one fights for me. And with that she pulls the knife out of the Queen's flesh letting her drop down dead.
"For Costia." She whispers as the victory horns fill the battlefield with their sound.
The moment Clarke enters the gates of Arkadia she finds herself being brought into someone's arms for a tight embrace.
"Clarke! Oh my God, are you okay?" She leans back so she can take a proper look at her daughter searching for any visible injuries.
"Mom. I'm okay. I promise, I'm okay." Not to be rude, but she doesn't ask her mom if she's okay because she knows Abby stayed back inside the walls with Jackson to be ready to tend to the injured that were going to be brought in.
"Is Lexa here already?" She asks her mother moving her gaze around hoping to see her girlfriend walking among the crowd of warriors returning from battle.
"No, she has yet to come back. But the battle just ended, I'm sure she'll be here soon." She quickly adds when she sees panic overtaking Clarke's features.
"Yeah..." Her voice is all but convinced, though she does appreciate her mother's effort to calm her down.
"Clarke!" A voice shouts from behind them.
"Octavia!" She exclaims as she runs to her friend, relief clear on her face at the sight of her friend standing safe and sound in front of her. She'd lost sight of her at some point during the battle and she was honestly worried the girl might have been dead.
"You're ok?" She asks, mirroring her mother's actions from before. "Wait, where's Lincoln? He's not..."
"No, he's fine. He'll be here soon." She reassures her quickly, but something in her voice doesn't sound quite right. It's like there's something she's holding back. Something that can be nothing but bad news.
"Good. I'm glad you're both okay." She says with a sincere smile on her face.
"Clarke, there's something I need-" Octavia starts just to be interrupted by Clarke as the blonde remembers she was looking for Lexa before her friend showed up.
"Hey, you don't happen to have seen Lexa, do you? She has yet to come back from battle and..." She trails off when she sees the other girl turning her head away as if to avoid her gaze. She's definitely hiding something.
"What? You've seen her? Is she okay?!"
"Clarke..." Maybe it's the sad tone of her voice or the way her eyes water as she looks back at her, or maybe it's the fact that everyone is back from battle but her girlfriend, anyway something inside Clarke clicks and she starts to panic again.
"Where is she? What aren't you telling me?" When Octavia avoids her gaze once again, she starts yelling. "Octavia, what happened?! Where the hell is she?!"
"I'm sorry." She says in a small voice before slowly turning to look at Clarke.
"What?" She whispers afraid of what's coming next.
"We did everything we could but... She'd lost too much blood. I'm so sorry" She cries as she looks somewhere past Clarke's shoulder. The blonde follows her eyes until her gaze falls on Lincoln.
"No..." She shakes her head at the sight of the boy approaching them with a lifeless Lexa in his arms.
"Oh my God." She cries. This can't be happening. Please, let it be just her worst nightmare. There's no way Lexa's dead, she can't be dead, they were supposed to find each other once the battle was over and, and hug each other and kiss and, and-
"I'm sorry." Lincoln interrupts her trail of thoughts as he comes to a stop in front of her.
"Lincoln. Put her down." Octavia says gently as she places a hand on her boyfriend's upper arm, encouraging him to do as he was told. She knows he has orders to bring the Commander's body to the medical center, where all the other corpses are being taken while the ones who have survived prepare the pyre for a proper funeral ceremony, but she also knows that Clarke needs to hold the girl she loves one last time before they burn her body.
After a moment of hesitation, Lincoln gives up and, with a small nod of agreement, he crouches down to place Lexa's body on the ground.
As soon as Lincoln gets back up, Clarke lets herself drop heavily on her knees, not even bothering the pain that shoots through her bones at the impact with the ground. Nothing will ever come close to the pain she's feeling right now. It's like her heart has been shattered in a million pieces and her lungs have being drained of all of the air they held inside. She's not even sure if her heart is still beating, it might as well have stopped the moment she saw Lexa slumped lifelessly in Lincoln's strong arms.
Now that she's closer she can make out two bullet holes on the girl's abdomen. Lexa's shirt is soaked in her own dark blood and there's a trail of dried blood that goes from the side of Lexa's mouth to her chin. As she takes it all in, tears start streaming down her cheeks. She holds a hand on her chest, trying vainly to alleviate the pain that fills heart and that, she knows, will never go away. Her other hand goes to her mouth when she lets out the first sob. She shakes her head fiercely as she cries before leaning down to pull Lexa's lifeless body in her lap. She embraces the girl tightly as she sobs in her the crook of her neck, seeking for the warmth she used to find there.
All she sees is Lexa and all she hears are her own broken sobs. She doesn't notice the small crowd of people that's gathered around them. She doesn't see Octavia and Lincoln crying in each other's arms at the sight of their friend breaking down in front of their eyes. She doesn't see Kane holding his arm securely around Abby's shoulders as her mother cries, finally understanding the depth of Clarke's feelings for Lexa. She doesn't see her people shocked, surprised and sad faces as they find out in this moment, as she's sobbing desperately in her dead girlfriend's chest, that their former leader and the grounders' leader were much more than just the Commander of the 13th clans and the Ambassador of the Sky People to one another. She doesn't notice, but everyone knows Clarke and Lexa loved each other with all of their beings despite the harshness of the world they were forced to live in.
Note: Please don't hate me. You knew this was coming, I'd warned you in the summary. Don't worry, though, there's much of our lovely Lexa to come.
One more thing, I just realize that I've been misspelling the word "Natblida" for all this time. I'm so sorry, I'll try to go back and correct the mistake.
Thank you all for reading! Stay tuned for the next uploads! Xxxx
